From the outset, this film plants its deep roots in the very heart of the storyline; hip-hop music. Made in 2002, this is a film that does a lot to dispel the myths in Hollywood about black people and rap music. No gun-toting, hip-gangster wannabes here (well, actually there are two, but these are used to great comic effect).

It starts out with a cute friendship between two neighbourhood kids – Andre and Sidney. They grow up together loving the local hip-hop as it itself is growing up with them.

Fast forward to today. Sidney and Dre are still the best of friends, and Dre finally comes back to New York after years away. Both work in the music industry and Dre brings back with him his fiancée Reese. The night before he is to be married, Dre and Sid connect and she realises she loves him but too late, he’s married.

Meanwhile, she starts dating a basketball player, Kelby and before too long he’s proposing to her. Unfortunately, Dre has realised what’s between him and Sid and with his wife flirting with a lot of other men, he is torn between his commitments and his desires. On top of which, the recording studio he works with, Millennium, is hiring idiots who don’t give him the feeling hip-hop always has and so he quits to start his own label.

While this film takes a little while to build up steam, it is a very watchable feature with pleasant characters and a subtle and understated romantic relationship between Sid and Dre. Using the plot device of growing up alongside hip-hop, this is the metaphor for Sid’s life as she is writing a book on the subject as the film’s byline. It works well, if a little confusingly at times, to dictate characters’ emotional states, but is well-resolved by film’s end.

This is a solid yet sweet romance with a couple of very funny moments, particularly regarding the sexual encounters between Sid and Dre and the idiotic rap stars of Millennium Records. Well worth checking out and I recommend it for couples or for anyone with more than a slight interest in hip-hop or rap music.

Delivered in the cinema aspect of 1.85:1 with enhancement, the picture quality is very nice overall. There are shots of New York City reminiscent of 25th Hour with the twin searchlights on the former ground of the World Trade Center arcing up into the night and these look great. The picture is quite sharp with nicely saturated colours and true blacks. Shadow detail is fine and the night shots devoid of grain while flesh tones (and there’s lots of it at times) all look realistic and even.

Audio is provided courtesy of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and this works so well for the music of the film. While a lot (and indeed the majority) of the film features hip-hop music, there are moments of sculpted musical score behind the action, which has been created by Robert Hurst. This sounds great and suits the film, but the hip-hop soundtrack is where this film is at for sure. Plenty of bands and artists abound, including The Roots, Planet Patrol, Doug E. Fresh, Blackalicious, Mos Def (also starring as a shy rap singer), J-Live, Eric B. and Rakim, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, Angie Stone, The Soul Project, Cassandra Wilson and Hi-tek. No, they’re not all hip-hoppers, but they all keep the subwoofer thumping nicely.

Dialogue is cool with healthy smatterings of the street slang so favoured in films of this ilk which truly sets the scene and sounds much cooler than how dumbarse white guys like me speak.

As to extras, sadly there are none in this bare-bones release.

Overall, this is a fun film with some subtle humour and warm characters and one I found myself enjoying more as it progressed. A slow start while we plumb the depths of character development early on leads us into an increasingly interesting conclusion (even if we can see what’s going to happen well in advance).

I recommend it as a rental for sure, however as a retail release a little more information about the extensive use of hip-hop music and actual performers (early in the film) would have been appreciated.

Word.